Tests confirm Cleveland captor is father of 6-year-old girl

Friday

May 10, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 10, 2013 at 3:40 PM

CLEVELAND - Prosecutors said yesterday that they might seek the death penalty against Ariel Castro, the man accused of imprisoning three women at his home for a decade, as police charged that he impregnated one of his captives at least five times and made her miscarry by starving her and punching her in the belly.

CLEVELAND — Prosecutors said yesterday that they might seek the death penalty against Ariel Castro, the man accused of imprisoning three women at his home for a decade, as police charged that he impregnated one of his captives at least five times and made her miscarry by starving her and punching her in the belly.

The horrific allegations were contained in a police report that also said another one of the women, Amanda Berry, was forced to give birth in a plastic kiddie pool.

Tests have now confirmed that Castro is the father of a 6-year-old girl rescued from his house with three women this week.

Attorney General Mike DeWine's office confirmed Castro's paternity in a news release this morning. DeWine says a sample of Castro's DNA was taken Thursday and forensic scientists worked through the night on the case.

Also yesterday, in interviews with the Associated Press, relatives of Grimilda Figueroa, who left Castro years ago and died last year after a long illness, described Castro as a “monster.”

Castro once shoved Figueroa into a cardboard box and closed the flaps over her head, said Elida Caraballo, her sister.

“He told her, ‘You stay there until I tell you to get out,’??” said Caraballo, who cried as she recounted her late sister’s torment. “That’s when I got scared and I ran downstairs to get my parents.”

Among many beatings over the years, Castro shoved Figueroa down a flight of stairs, broke her nose several times and dislocated her shoulder, Caraballo said.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said his office will decide whether to bring aggravated-murder charges punishable by death in connection with the pregnancies that were terminated by force.

“Capital punishment must be reserved for those crimes that are truly the worst examples of human conduct,” he said. “The reality is we still have brutal criminals in our midst who have no respect for the rule of law or human life.”

Castro, a 52-year-old former school-bus driver, is being held on $8 million bail under a suicide watch. He is charged with rape and kidnapping.

McGinty said Castro will be charged for every act of sexual violence, assault and other crimes committed against the women, suggesting that the counts could number in the hundreds, if not thousands.

Among the chilling details in the police report, obtained yesterday by news organizations:

• Berry, now 27, told officers that she was forced to give birth in a plastic pool in the house so that it would be easier to clean up. Berry said she, her baby, now 6, and the two other rescued women never visited a doctor during their captivity.

• Michelle Knight, now 32, said her five pregnancies ended after Castro starved her for at least two weeks and “repeatedly punched her in the stomach until she miscarried.” She also said Castro forced her to deliver Berry’s baby under threat of death if the infant died. Knight said that when the newborn stopped breathing, she revived the child through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

• All three women said Castro chained them up in the basement but eventually let them live upstairs on the second floor. Each woman told a similar story about being abducted after accepting a ride from Castro.

During his brief arraignment yesterday, Castro tried to hide his face, tucking his chin inside his collar. He appeared to close his eyes during the hearing and awkwardly signed documents while handcuffed. He did not speak or enter a plea.

In court, prosecutor Brian Murphy said Castro used the women “in whatever self-gratifying, self-serving way he saw fit.”

Kathleen DeMetz, a public defender assigned to represent him at the hearing, didn’t comment on his guilt or innocence or object when prosecutors recommended that bail be set at $5 million. The judge, instead, ordered Castro held on $8 million.

Castro has been under arrest since Monday, when Berry broke out of his rundown house and called 911 while he was away. Police found the two other women inside. The women had vanished separately between 2002 and 2004 when they were 14, 16 and 20.

Berry and former captive Gina DeJesus, 22, went home with relatives on Wednesday. Knight was reported in good condition at a hospital in Cleveland.

The police report gave a detailed account of their escape, beginning with Berry’s discovery that a door was unlocked, leaving only a bolted outer door between her and freedom.

Berry feared it was a test: She said Castro occasionally left a door unlocked to test them. But she called to neighbors on a porch for help and was able to get out.

Police then entered the house and found the other women, who threw themselves into the officers’ arms.

Castro’s two brothers, who were arrested with him but cleared of involvement in the kidnapping case, appeared in court on unrelated charges yesterday and were released.

Ariel Castro’s former daughter-in-law, Monica Stephens, told the Associated Press that her former husband said that Castro had an extremely violent nature.

“He was always described to me as a violent, just a scary violent person,” Stephens said.

“He talked about how his father had beaten him and his mother severely. They were like hostages in their own house. They were locked in,” said Stephens, who now lives in Florida.